Using ChangXin is definitely not a trick! Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple cuts shipments of iPhone 18 and other hardware due to memory shortage

Judging from various signals emerging from the supply chain, Apple's testing of CXMT memory across its iPhone and Mac product lines is by no means, as outsiders previously speculated, an attempt to force Korean memory giants to cut prices. The core reason behind it is simply that Apple cannot obtain enough DRAM storage chips to meet its new product production needs.

Ming-Chi Kuo, a well-known analyst who has repeatedly and accurately predicted Apple's product moves, recently shared a latest in-depth industry research report, pointing out that the global DRAM memory supply shortage is becoming increasingly severe. Apple is proactively reducing its hardware product shipment plans for the full year of 2026 to align with the existing limited storage production capacity.

According to details disclosed in the report, flagship new devices launching in the second half of this year, such as the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra, will see directly reduced shipment volumes due to insufficient storage chip supply. Even though these models have already been confirmed to undergo considerable price increases, the capacity-constrained situation will not be significantly alleviated.

In fact, the impact of the memory shortage has long since spread across Apple's entire product line. Earlier, production capacity for products such as the Mac Studio, Mac mini, and MacBook Air was successively affected. This continually escalating supply issue will obviously further disrupt the normal production scheduling of subsequent iPhone generations.

At present, the world's leading memory manufacturers have almost all shifted their production capacity priorities toward AI data centers. Enterprise-facing AI storage chip orders are not only larger in volume, but their contract profits are also far higher than consumer-grade products, directly diverting a substantial amount of capacity originally reserved for consumer electronic device chips. Naturally, ordinary consumer electronics brands find it very difficult to secure enough spot supply.

Many netizens' casual jokes and meme remarks about Apple have instead precisely hit the real predicament Apple currently faces. For Apple right now, regardless of whether CXMT's chips are quoted at a high or low price, as long as they can deliver stable and adequate supply, that is already the optimal choice to resolve the urgent crisis.